1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an agricultural system for forming and wrapping bales of crop material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different types of combined baling and wrapping devices are for instance disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,967, EP 1 077 025, and EP 1 726 204 all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The agricultural unit of EP 1 726 204 comprises a baling device and a swing arm bale wrapping device. The baling device comprises bale forming means to form a bale in baling chamber. The baling device comprises further a pivotable rear flap to open the baling chamber after formation of a bale in order to make removal of the bale from the baling chamber possible. After forming a bale, the bale is transferred to a wrapping device to wrap the bale in wrapping material, typically film material.
The wrapping device comprises a wrapping table to support the bale during wrapping and wrapping means to wrap the wrapping material on the bale. The wrapping means comprise one or more movable parts, for instance roll supporting devices to be rotated during wrapping around the bale supported on the wrapping table to wrap wrapping material, for instance a plastic film about the bale.
In the agricultural unit of EP 1 726 204 a transfer device is provided which passes bales from the baling device to the wrapping table of the wrapping device. The transfer device comprises a sheet metal table and a swiveling yoke which rolls the bale over the sheet metal table to the wrapper. The bale is rolled uphill to its highest point, from which it falls into a recess in the wrapping table. Due to the lifting of the bale during transfer there arise problems during uphill work of the baler because the bale is too much accelerated and can run over the wrapping table.
A drawback of the transfer device of EP 1 726 204 is that the transfer process of the bale may be dependent on the angle of the agricultural unit with respect to a horizontal plane.
Furthermore, the presence of the transfer device also places restriction on the space available for the wrapping device. In particular less space may be available for the provision and movement of the one or more movable parts of the wrapping device, for instance roll supporting devices to be rotated during wrapping around the bale.